Department of Parks and Recreation
Reference: An Amendment to the Brighton Municipal Code Changing the Overhead Clearance Requirement to 14' over Streets and 8' over Sidewalks
To: Mayor Gregory Mills and Members of City Council
Through: Michael P. Martinez, City Manager
Prepared By: Kyle Sylvester Assistant Director of Parks and Open Space
Date Prepared: January 25, 2024
PURPOSE
A proposed ordinance to amend Brighton Municipal Code ? 12-16-50.
BACKGROUND
Trees are considered living infrastructure for municipalities and provide many benefits to their communities. Trees are often planted in rights-of-way so their benefits can be maximized in a community setting. Pursuant to the Brighton Municipal Code, the adjacent property owner must maintain and care for trees in the right-of-way regardless of whether the right-of-way is public or private. In some cases, as the tree canopies in Brighton's neighborhoods are maturing, branches are encroaching into streets, making it very difficult for large vehicles to pass through.
Overhead clearance of trees is currently addressed in Section 12-16-50(4)(b) the code. The current code is a bit vague and set to eight (8) feet for clearance. Eight (8) feet is not sufficient clearance over streets for large vehicles such as fire trucks, ambulances, school buses, trash trucks, and delivery trucks to pass without sustaining some damage to vehicles and/or trees. Staff requests an amendment to this section of code to require fourteen (14) feet of overhead clearance for streets and eight (8) feet over sidewalks.
Staff proposed this ordinance amendment to Council at a study session on October 24th, 2023, and at a City Council session on November 7th 2023. Per Council's direction, staff was instructed to come back with reasonable measures and solutions for residents to follow that would help mitigate tree clearance issues in their neighborhood while minimally impacting property owners as much as possible.
Staff feels we have...
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